Are children irrational category learners? Evidence from a process model

Gavin Jenkins, University of Iowa

Jodi Smith, University of Iowa

John Spencer, University of Iowa

Larissa Samuelson, University of Iowa

Abstract

How do multiple labeling events influence childrens
understanding of objects that can be named at multiple levels of specificity
("Rover" or "dog")? To investigate, we replicated Xu & Tenenbaum (2007,
Psychological Review, 114, 245-272), who found that children generalized more
narrowly when three identical toys (e.g., plush Dalmatians) were labeled with a
novel word compared to one toy labeled three times. Xu & Tenenbaum suggested the
extra two referents provide statistical evidence that rationally supports a
narrow hypothesis. In our "extra labeling" condition, however, children
generalized broadly when each object was labeled ten times instead of once. This
violates the predictions of a purely rational account and suggests situational,
lower-level processes are critical to novel word generalization. A Dynamic Neural
Field model is used to examine these processes, and further shows how
process-oriented models can solve the problem of overlapping extensions.